Chapter 5
Gus
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
I turned to Kane and frowned. “Are you quoting Star Wars now?” I asked, my voice slow and sarcastic. Although he wasn’t wrong. I had a bad feeling about it, too.
We were nearing the end of an event for around six hundred people with a few guest speakers and lots of wining and dining. Elbows rubbed, palms smoothed. All that crap.
I didn’t mind what people did at these things, but this one felt off. As if there was something I wasn’t getting. That worried me.
We were security for the event as a whole, not for any individual person. Making sure people were safe and any threats were taken care of. We had contract workers with us because it was a big enough event that we wanted to ensure we had coverage.
“So, why do we all have a bad feeling about this?” Jennifer asked as she walked over.
I turned toward her, keeping my voice low. “I don’t know. Something feels off.”
Alert, she gave me a tight nod before looking out over the crowd. She moved on slowly, keeping on patrol with Daisy. My job was to stay in place near the doors unless there was an emergency.
The interaction between Jennifer and I had been easy, which I was grateful for.
Because, frankly, things had been awkward lately.
We had been fine these past two months. Yes, there was still heat, that connection, but I thought perhaps it had been toned down because we’d finally let it burn for a night.
It wasn’t everything. It wasn’t what it could be, but we’d had each other.
Yet it felt as if we had screwed up.
Because something had changed the past few days. There was a rigidity to her, and she wouldn’t quite meet my eyes.
Something was wrong, and I didn’t know what I had done. But we needed to fix it. Especially because we fucking worked together. That was the whole point of us having the talk about our relationship to begin with.
People depended on us.
“I am glad this part of the day is almost over,” Kane mumbled as he moved back to his position, eyes on the crowd. I nodded, though he couldn’t see me, that itch still underneath my shoulder blades.
“Too bad it’s a two-day event,” I mumbled.
“Keep the lines clear,” Noah said into the mic, but I could hear the frustration in his tone. He felt it, too. Whatever this was.
This was our final job with these clients.
The team kept making changes, which we agreed to, but it caused us to have to double up or alter how we worked.
They also wanted us to have one-on-one time with some of the heavy hitters, which would’ve been fine, but they had requested Daisy and Jennifer specifically.
It set my teeth on edge. The one who had suggested it was lucky I hadn’t punched him in the face, and that was only after hearing about it secondhand.
Somehow, Ford had been able to hold back.
We had to finish this contract. One more day, and then we were done.
Then maybe I could figure out what the hell was going on with Jennifer and how to fix it.
And tell her that I wanted something more.
Which was great. Because I was pretty sure she wanted nothing to do with me.
That wouldn’t make things hard at all.
“I’m just saying, you’d be great working in private security, don’t you think?” a man slurred quietly over our earpieces. I frowned, wondering who the hell that was. Instincts on alert, I looked over and saw Daisy and Jennifer standing straight-backed, glaring at a man between them.
“Sir, you’re going to want to give us some space,” Jennifer said calmly.
“Are you sure you want space, baby? The two of you would be perfect with me. Private security? All the bonuses you could want. Get you out of this lifestyle and into the one you deserve. Don’t you think?”
He reached for Daisy with one hand, Jennifer with the other, and I took a step forward before I could stop myself. Kane cleared his throat and shook his head because we weren’t about to make a scene, and Noah was already on his way.
Plus, the women didn’t need us. Not in this case.
“Touch me, and I’ll break your fingers,” Daisy said sweetly, so much so it made me stiffen.
“You wouldn’t hurt me.”
“We would. We’d make a scene, and we’d make sure everyone knew you’re a creep.
Because I don’t think you’d like two little girls beating your ass.
Now, you’re going to step away and let us do our job, or we’re going to show you exactly what private security means,” Jennifer said, just as sweetly as Daisy.
“Bitch,” the man grumbled just as Noah got there, a pleasant smile on his face and danger in his eyes. The fact that I could see that from this side of the room told me he was ready to kick ass. As were all of us.
“Sir, why don’t you come with me?”
“I don’t have to go with you anywhere.”
“Oh, you’re going to want to,” Daisy added. “Because if you stay with us any longer, you’ll be missing your balls.”
Jennifer grinned before looking over the man’s shoulder at me. She winked, and it felt like everything was normal again. Only maybe it wasn’t. I wanted to help her, but she could take care of herself. I had to remember that.
The man sauntered off, practically swaggering, but he’d gotten his ego hit. I hoped he didn’t fuck up anything later.
“We’re wrapping up. Get to your positions, and then we’ll have a briefing to set up for tomorrow,” Ford said into the comms. I went back to work, pulling my gaze from Jennifer—something that was getting harder and harder to do.
When we headed back to the cars, the evening wrapped up, I looked over at Jennifer. “You okay?”
She raised a brow, and I noticed that she was a bit pale. Hell. Maybe the guy had gotten to her after all.
“I’m used to men hitting on me in these situations. They see a woman who can beat their ass and think they want it. Then they realize they can’t handle it.”
“They never can,” Daisy mumbled before getting into the back of the SUV, Kane joining her.
I met Jennifer’s gaze. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. You don’t treat women like that. You treat me like a member of the team. One of the guys. And I appreciate that.”
I raised a brow, grateful that our comms were off. “You know I don’t treat you like one of the guys.”
Her eyes darkened for a bit before she suddenly paled even further.
“No, I guess you don’t. And, Gus? We need to talk after this whole event’s over.”
My stomach rolled, but I nodded, my jaw tightening. “Yeah. It seems we do.”
She met my gaze again and looked like she wanted to say something more before changing her mind and getting into the SUV. I sighed, heading to the other one.
This wouldn’t end well.
* * *
The next day was more of the same, although I was worried about what she had to say.
But I had to put it in the back of my mind because we were almost done with this assignment.
“I’m really glad we’re not working with this client after this,” Jennifer said with a sigh, rubbing the back of her neck.
We were in the corner of the room, keeping track of the exits. I frowned at her. “Why do you say that?”
“The creep you heard yesterday was just the tip of the iceberg. I’m surprised no one’s propositioned you yet.” I winced, and she narrowed her eyes. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. I don’t know what’s going on with this client, but I don’t like it.”
“Tell Noah.”
“I don’t need to complain to Noah about a woman asking me to show her what her pearl necklace could look like.” Jennifer choked. “Pretend I didn’t say that out loud.”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now? She said that? Blatantly?”
“It was when we were setting up for the day. She’s one of the organizers.”
“If you don’t tell Noah, I will.”
“It’ll be handled.”
“Do it. Please? I don’t want to think about what else these people are doing if they’re being so blunt with us.”
“We can’t do much about it, other than not work with them anymore.”
“What if they do it to someone else? To the next team? We need to get them blacklisted or something.”
I snorted, even as she glared at me.
“What? Am I insane for wanting to take care of my friends and family?”
That was Jennifer—sweet and caring, even when she wanted to kick ass.
I wanted us to be okay. To get back to normal. Or maybe as soon as we talked, things would deteriorate again.
“We’ll work on it after. But let’s keep our eyes on the prize. We’re almost done.”
“Don’t say things like that. It’s just going to jinx it.”
“Yeah. I’ll go throw salt over my shoulder.”
“You should go run around the building three times,” she said with a laugh.
I shook my head, holding back a laugh of my own. “Let’s not do that. I’m not in the mood to get yelled at by Noah again.”
“Again? What did you do this time?”
“Nothing. I was a perfect angel.”
She rolled her eyes, and we went back to work. I felt lighter than I had in days. This was what I’d missed, the normalcy of it all.
“Hey, we have a problem,” Noah said. I cursed myself as Jen gave me a look, waiting to hear if I truly had jinxed us.
“What is it?”
“It seems some people the organizer apparently threatened online last night threatened him back. And mentioned this place specifically.”
I thought back, trying to remember what had been said while Jen pulled up her phone. She paled.
“Well, hell. This group is known for being good at explosives and weaponry. They’re on watch lists around the country.”
She turned the screen to me, and I cursed a blue streak in my head.
“Shit.”
“We’re on it. Kingston’s searching the floors now. But be on the ball. I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.”
“Same. This feels wrong.”
“We’re on it, keep alert. Let’s just get this done,” Noah growled.
We spread out, keeping our head in the game.
Though it wasn’t easy, not when it was all I could do not to pick up Jennifer and get her the hell out of there.
I did not know how Noah and Ford did it.
I didn’t know what I would do if Jen got hurt.
And that’s when I knew I’d made a fucking mistake by sleeping with her.
It would’ve been easier to walk away before that. Now, there was no going back.
We kept on alert. A few of the guests might’ve noticed, but they were too busy having fun, making deals, laughing, and ignoring the fact that we were searching the building for a bomb.
One that never should have gotten in. But if it was small enough? There were always ways. Especially in a building like this, with so many crevices and entrances and exits. It was one of the things we hadn’t liked about the event.
But the company wanted this, and we’d had to make concessions.
I didn’t think we’d be doing that again. Ever.
“I don’t like this,” Jennifer whispered next to me, and I nodded in agreement.
“I should have run around the building.”
“There’s still time.”
But I realized maybe we didn’t have the time.
I saw something small and metallic in a guy’s hands. A small pipe bomb, which wouldn’t do too much damage—except to the person standing right next to it.
Jen saw him at the same time, Kingston coming up behind him fast.
When the guy threw it, I didn’t think. I pulled Jennifer back, throwing my body over hers as the bomb hit the wall beside us and everything went dark.